Harasi is another coffee region within a few hours of Sana’a.
But it seems like an area hundreds of years back in time when departing the main road. They have great coffee here, and more of the crop is terrace-grown than what we saw in Saihi the day before.
We have had access to Harasi (also sp. Harazi) coffee in the past, but not lately. This is a complexThe co-presence of many aroma and flavor attributes, with multiple layers. A general impression of a coffee, similar to judgments such as "balanced" or "structured" trader network here, from the local village coffee collector to the miller in Sana’a, to the exporter in Hodeidah. There are alliances and competition.
Harazi is perhaps as well known as Ismaili within YemenYemen has a coffee culture like no other place, and perhaps some of what we enjoy in this cup is due to their old style of trade...: Technically,... as the place where high quality coffee comes from. In Sana’a every coffee merchant will say their coffee is from Ismaili or Harasi.
Harazi Coffee Photos
On the way to Harasi, Yemen, you pass this especially imposing town, Al Hagarah. By the way, there’s always a variety of way to spell things in Yemen. I was given the names of Al Hagrah, Al Hajrah, and Al Hagarah for this town. Yemen More dramatic houses. What views from these abodes… Yemen Even arable flatter areas of land are terraced. Yemen On the way to the Haras growing area, towns and terraces Yemen Another cliffside town. Yemen Rare sighting of the fairer sex. In the rural areas they ware straw shade hats over their veils. Yemen Amazing Views in Harasi Yemen Yet another castle-like outcropping of homes. Yemen The town of Gart is where we were headed on this trip. Yemen These trees were the Shibriqi clutivar and had lost of cherry, relative to Yemen at least. Yemen Along the way, there was some very convenient coffee trees (a rarity in Yemen!) So we stopped. I doubt coffee farmers from other origins could believe that any coffee could be grown in such a surrounding environment. Yemen At any other coffee origin, this tree would be either removed, heavily pruned to increase next year’s production, or fed a lot of organic (or non-organic) fertilizer. But in Yemen, that’s a lot of coffee cherry for a tree. Yemen 
You can see this branch has already been harvested once, and is ready for it’s final harvest. Average pass on trees is 3 times. The final pass is often a low-quality “strip pick” of all remaining cherry. Yemen Good even ripening here, especially for Yemen. Yemen After a long drive on the dirt road, D gets out at Gart. Yemen Basically, the women tend to disappear when the Yenkee heathens arrive. I tended to be respectful of the fact they didn’t want t be photographed … 99% of the time at least! In terms of headscarves, all women have them, and according to Ali, the degree to which they had themsleves is a personal, or family matter. Few have their faces exposed, many have just their eyes exposed, and an equal amount have a fine black veil that covers everything. In fact, in Sana’a I saw a woman who wore glasses outside here complete veil, a very unusual look, like a black blob with glasses. Yemen I always asked before photographing and almost always showed them the picture afterwards. People seemed quite delighted with this. It seems fine to photograph younger people. Yemen Gart … what kind of Yemeni name is that. Sounds like a cross between Garth and Bart. But what an amazing place this section of Haras is. Yemen … but each squared off jsut for the purpose, probaby by ancestors. Since the towns are low on population, there is a surplus of ruined walls and homes to use for building material. Yemen There is something so medieval about the towns in Yemen, built to defend against attack, from an era when it was “every town for itself”. This makes for an architecture that, to Western eyes, is incredible. Yemen Yemen A narrow passage in Gart Yemen I believe the white buildings are religious, because you would see them occasionally among the homes, but I did not ask Mohamed or Ali about this. Yemen This picture seems to have elicited one smile and one frown, but they both enjoyed the results when they saw them. Yemen I saw lots of cats in Yemen, but there were some dogs too, like this little guy… Yemen Even the humble little buildings are beautiful. Yemen Our hosts wanted to lead us on a hike to the lower area of the town … we’ll call it Lower Gart, but I was the only visitor that ended up making the knee-busting walk. Yemen We followed a steep, narrow, rocky path down to the village. I am not sure the significance of the sun pattern, but I saw it often. Yemen Coffee on the terraces far below. Unfortunately, one way to tell it is coffee from a distance, and not qat, is the green-yellow appearance of the foilage due to lack of water and/or nutrition. Yemen On the way down, some beautiful flowers, including this. Yemen There was also a flowering plant that seemed to be a Euphorbia, as well as a fruiting cactus with Beavertail-like nodes. Coffee growing amidst cactus, another seeming contradiction that exists in Yemen. Yemen As we got closer I could see the coffee drying on the roofs of the village below. They do not have space for “drying patios” like Central America, so the roofs are a convenient place, as well as another limitation on volume. Yemen I was sure I had this plant in my cactus collection at home. It’s fairly common, Adenium obesum. Mr. Sowaid said it was not native to the area but I looked it up upon my return and it seems to be native to parts of Africa and Arabia. Yemen As we approached Lower Gart I couls see that many of the roofs had coffee drying. Indeed, this is the middle of the Yemeni Harvest (October-December) so it makes sense. Yemen I just couldn’t stop taking images as we approached … it’s just mind-boggling that these ancient towns Yemen Looks like somebodies fireplace went a little out of control. Yemen Yet another view of the dry desert plants and the coffee on terraces. Yemen This was a good example of how it is in the rural towns: I snapped this picture of the women in their traditional dress, and by the time I reached the village not one of them was seen. Yemen This is a great example of coffee cherry, very well picked, just an occasional underripe that can easily be removed when it is laid out on the roof. Again, notice the small sack size. Yemen And in fact, this is what they were doing … the women had just picked the coffee cherry and were showing it to Nasser. Yemen A Boy and His Donkey, Gart, Harasi, Yemen. Yemen Incredibly, this is what they use to old coffee cherry as the pick, a tire tiube fashioned into a sort of shoulder bag. What’s more remarkable, who uses tire tubes anymore? That’s a hard item to salvage. Yemen Yet another “boy and his mule” hauling a load of coffee up the hill. Yemen Take a close look at the stonework on the wall. No mortar, just fitted stones, waving and weaving. I have no idea how old these villages are, when the first stones were cut and hauled to make this wall. There’s rock all around, but it ain’t square. Yemen 
The two in the olive shirts are in their school outfits. While there are schools in every village, and you can see electric and other conveniences, this is still a rough rural life. Roads and water; those are the two things that need improving, we heard it over and over. Yemen I think I photographed this at a slight angle that makes it look scarey, but the fact is … it IS scarey! I wonder how many mules (and people) slip and fall down cliffs in Yemen each year. Yemen From the spot where the people were standing in the last photo, I took this image of the coffee terraces across the valley. Look for the house in this picture! Yemen Coffee drying on the rooftop. The drying period is usually 2 weeks. Yemen Close-up of coffee drying. Yemen The whole gang, at least those who made it down to lower Gart. Yemen I gave the older teen my camera and told him to take a few shots. He must have thought I only wanted a picture of myself, because he cropped out most of the group… Yemen The By and his mule, now loaded with coffee… coming up from the town of Gart on the footpath back to the road. Yemen On the way back up, a picture of Al Muhakri, who traveled with us to all the origins, and seemed to have one of the best collection warehouses and mills in Sana’a Yemen Someone who works here at SM thought this might be my long lost Yemeni brother… Yemen An old man and his mule. Yemen Both the old man and his mule were slow, but made progress up the steep cliff in his own time. In fact, he seemed to be following a better path than we were on. Yemen As we approach upper Gart again, I can see just how these houses are built on the edge of the precipice. Can you imagine what would happen here if there was an earthquake?!? Yemen Dramatic variations of color, shape and texture. Yemen Cast off mill stone. Yemen Older Gart man with Ali Yemen Amar Sowaid, on the left, is the youngest of the 3 Sowaid boys. In the center is Ali, and an unknown Gart boy. Yemen It is remarkable how stern Yemeni men look in photos, and how amicable they are in person. They definitely “get a serious look” on their face for pictures. Yemen I had these goofy sunglasses and a thrift store hat from the midwest. I think Amar and Ali thought they must be cool US rapper gear or something. Yemen Al Hagrah, Al Hagarah, etc. approached from the other side as we leave the Gart area to go lunch at Nasser Hussin’s abode. Yemen So Ali wanted to borrow my stuff for a picture. Ali loves hip hop and wants to visit Compton. I told him Compton would probably be a disappointment … it’s not like rappers are walking around Compton and you will see them there… Yemen At Mr. Nasser’s house, great art. Yemen After our amazing, delicious meal (which you always eat with your hands, on the floor, with communal dishes) we had Queshir (Keshir), the tea made froim the dried coffee skins, with a bit of sugar. Yemen Mr. Sowaid in the back, Duane with a mouthful of cud. That’s the worst thing about the qat – this gritty cheekful of vegetation. Yemen He was loud, but clearly very hilarious (if you understand arabic), and gregarious. I was shocked to find out he was over 70! He also was one of the few people i ment who did not like qat. Yemen This makes me think about the term “ham-fisted” quite literally. Was it my camera or are his hands really that big? This is one of the sons of Mr. Nasser. Yemen This is another son of Nasser, and myself. He was nice, but I think when you have a cheekful of qat you end up grimacing at the camera. Yemen I noticed how the Dawairi Mokha type had smaller, narrower leaves and were quite rippled. This can be partly from lack of water, but is largely due to the cultivar. Yemen On the way back to the asphalt road we encountered some Dawairi type trees. Ismaili is full of these, so I have many photos of this type later Yemen
